Related Links

0

Digital Rock & Rule

DVD label Unearthed Films, best known as the US home of violent Japanese films like the GUINEA PIG series, has finally announced a street date of June 7 for the 1983 Canadian animated feature ROCK & RULE.

The film is a rock opera about a punk singer named Angel (voiced by Susan Roman) who is abducted by villainous "superocker" Mok (Don Francks), who plans to use her singing voice to summon a demon. Angel's band mates come to her rescue.

The long out-of-print title has been much sought after by music and animation fans alike, but has only been available in bastardized versions since its theatrical release two decades ago, mostly due to music rights issues. The soundtrack features performances by Lou Reed, Cheap Trick, Earth Wind & Fire and Blondie. A version of the film played on CBC that avoided rights issues by using the original singing voices used by the Nelvana Studio before star performances were acquired.

Unearthed has done an extensive frame-by-frame restoration of the film, and the DVD will feature an anamorphic 1.85:1 High Definition transfer in both 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby. The disc will also include a commentrak by director Clive Smith, a Making-Of featurette, a sketch gallery, and a comparison between the original and restored version.

The film will also be available in a 2-disc collectors set. The second disc will preserve the original version of the film and include the short THE DEVIL & DANIEL MOUSE which served as the basis for ROCK & RULE. The disc also includes a Making-Of featurette for the short, the script, an even bigger gallery, an alternate title sequence, 15-minutes from the film's workprint ending, and a collectors booklet.

© 2005 Brian Thomas, the author of the massive book VideoHound's DRAGON: ASIAN ACTION & CULT FLICKS, available now!

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at DVDShoppingList@cinescape.com.